Should a retailer discriminate based on religious beliefs?

Here is a simple explanation of religious freedom, which has been consistently upheld by the courts, most recently in ‘Telescope Media Group v. Lindsey’ in Minnesota: If you hang your shingle in the public square, you are required to do business without discriminating against any members of said public. If your religious beliefs prevent you from providing a service to anyone based on race, religion, gender or sexual orientation, you are free to take down your shingle and do something else for a living.

Of course, that may change if challenges reach the Gorsuch (Supreme) Court; then it becomes a choice between democracy and theocracy. Would the latter retain the consent of the governed?

Steve Felten, Paso Robles

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